THIS BLOG OPPOSES DRACONIAN LAWS & POLITICAL SCAPEGOATING BY SOME POLITICIANS! * THE PUNISHMENT IS THE CRIME * FOR A WORLD WITHOUT VIOLENCE * WHERE DOES THAT COME FROM? * A) DALAI LAMA: "LOVE, PEACE AND KINDNESS YOU CAN'T BREAK IT." * B) FREDERICK NIETZSCHE: "LOVE YOUR ENEMY." * THERE IS ALSO FORGIVENESS BUT YOU DON'T GET THE COMPLETE PROTECTION UNLESS YOU ACCEPT BOTH OF THE A & B CONDITIONS * & FOR THAT YOU MUST COME TO TERMS WITH C) FORGIVENESS * :-)

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

In 1996, Michael Kelly, husband and father of two, shot a stranger on the stairwell in his block of units. Michael was terrified the stranger would harm his wife and children.

He was in the grip of a serious mental psychosis when he pulled the trigger. A court found him not guilty of grievous bodily harm on the grounds of mental illness.

That was six years ago, and Michael is still in gaol.

If he had been found guilty, he would probably have served his sentence and been released by now.

Instead, Michael is still struggling with the frustration of prison routine in the mental ward inside Long Bay Gaol. His wife visits him as often as she can, taking along the kids, who are growing up without him.

Michael is caught up in a particularly cruel version of the game of Cat and Mouse. Because he is classified as a forensic patient under the Mental Heath Act of NSW, the Minister for Health is his master, not the Minister for Corrective Services. And the Minister for health will not let him go.

The Act requires a Mental Health Tribunal to review Michael's case every six months.The legal requirements of the Tribunal under the Mental Health Act is to determine if a forensic patient poses a risk to the community if they don't they should not be held in prison

The Tribunal, who themselves are experts in psychiatry, must call expert witnesses, the treating psychiatrist and psychiatric nurses who have observed him for years, his family and others.

For the past two years the Tribunal has found Michael ready to be placed in the community for treatment and rehabilitation. The expert forensic psychiatric team managing him say he poses no risk to the community. The community psychiatric team has repeatedly reported they are ready to take him into care.

His community placement would be subject to a stringent set of conditions. He would be assessed regularly by a psychiatrist, and case managed by staff expert in forensic case management. He would undergo regular drug/alcohol testing, because he will not be permitted to use mood-changing drugs.

Should he show any signs of mental illness or fail to cooperate with treatment, he can be returned to prison under the restraints of the Mental Health Act. Michael has agreed to all these conditions.

Why then is he still in prison? That is the question we put to Craig Knowles, Minister for Health NSW. The Minister sent us an evasive letter but gave us a clue to his thinking.

"I take very seriously decisions with respect to forensic patients. While the Mental Heath Tribunal is responsible for making recommendations the decision to approve or reject those recommendations rests with me.

I must be certain their mental illness is controlled and they no longer pose a risk."

I point to the Canadian experience of concentration of discretionary powers in the hands of government ministers in the name of the so-called War on Terror.

Knowle's use of power is another example of the same trend.The deliberate undermining of professional psychiatric teams by the Minister's refusal to release mentally ill people under his control must end. Craig Knowles must go and his power to decide these matters must be taken away from him.

By Tony York 11 December 2002

ED: How did we give one man, one key, to the roll of abnormality without any qualifications to diagnose one single persons's integrity,above specialists in the field of psychiatry?

Related:

EX-PRISONER UNEMPLOYMENT: SENTENCED FOR LIFEName removed by request served time in prison decades ago. Shes still being punished today. According to commonwealth and state legislation, ex-prisoners applying for jobs must declare any conviction that fits into the following categories: less than 10 years old, more than 10 years old but served more than 30 months in prison.

ARE YOU INNOCENT?The Australian Law Reform Commission had recommended that the Innocence Panel be independent and have the power to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice.

NSW Department of Corrective Services attack right to privacyCorrective Services Minister Richard Amery has a problem attacking prisoners right to privacy.It seems to us that a civil society is best served when social justice laws are applied to all people regardless of their circumstances. Once government starts making exceptions which disadvantage certain groups and individuals, such laws are meaningless.

Litigants are drowning: in the High CourtThere were so many self represented litigants appearing in the High Court that more than half of its registry staff's time was taken up in dealing with them. The "go it alone" litigants have to take on tasks well above their qualified league causing them stress. This growing problem cannot be left unchecked.

Everyone wants to get out of 'jail' but 'Framed' wants life: Rotten Ron on the ropes On 2 May 2002, Justice Action received a faxed letter from Manager of DCS Operations Support Branch saying that, in his view, articles in Framed edition #42 'lack balance and integrity' and he is therefore 'not prepared to recommend this issue of Framed for placement in to correctional centre libraries.' Prisoners and those concerned about prisoner issues have very few sources of information.

Medical Records: Alex Mitchell's lost worldPerhaps we can get your medical report and spew it around publicly so you can see how it feels. But surely we do not have to go that far. And of course we are law-abiding citizens and I should think it would be enough to remind you of your ethics to report at all.

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20?Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

NSW opposition pledges review of detention lawsA spokesperson for Justice Action Ms Anal Advice said " NSW Prisons are a sex offence if you have been raped, bashed and squatted down to be strip searched. People should be diverted from going there at all material times".

RESTORING TRUE JUSTICE:Australian prisons are fast becoming the new asylums of the third millennium. The prison industry is booming, while Australia spends far less on mental health services than similar countries.

The punishment: Is the 'crime'The punishment is the crime according to retired chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia Justice Alistair Nicholson. "Smacking a child ought to be seen as assault".

Mr. & Mrs. Mandatory SentencingWell congratulations to the bride and groom. Could you please be upstanding and raise your glasses for Mr. And Mrs. Mandatory.

Just wipe your arse on Ivan again Minister?Mr Amery Minister for Corrective services has a problem with finding a toilet roll to wipe his bottom. Justice Action is appalled at the attacks by Amery and others in parliament on Ivan Milat's right to privacy and their attacks on the Privacy Commissioner and his office.

NSW prisons - primary industry bailed up!In many quiet regional centres around NSW there is a new primary industry shaping up. It has something to do with Bail but not with bales. The minister for Agriculture Richard Amery who also has the prisons portfolio is now committed to farming prisoners.

NSW Parliament Bitter Pills To Swallow?One delusion pill: So people who investigate their own mistakes make sure there was no mistake or someone else made the mistake. Perhaps you're not biased and you will be honest about it.

Black NexusThe Separation of Powers Doctrine is nowcontaminated witharangeofcolours, now leaving us with a black shirt on a once blue bridge that crossed that thin blue line. The 'Amery and Woodham show'.

Prison Mind Games-Do they exist?Directives are given inside the prison system that are not consistent with the law in NSW. And not in the good interests of the health and well being of the prisoners.

Chronology - A History of Australian Prisons[Allegedly:] The events that have shaped NSW prisons - from convict days through royal commissions, to the Supermax of today. [I say allegedly because no one should trust Four Corners [Walls], why? Because they spill out the propaganda of the day for the Government, whether it be wrong or right. A government that lies and has no remorse about it.]